Waking Up in Vegas.

Jem & The Holograms. I grew up watching these girls. 

         

       It's confirmed. We are going to Vegas on February. I am up in the clouds and very much  looking forward to this trip since Paulo hardly goes on vacation and i've been begging him for a trip outside San Francisco. 

        So since we are going to Vegas, he decided that we might as well get married, again (I know, i know). This time by Elvis at his little chapel on the strip. At first it was a popular joke in our family back in December when we went home for our 3rd wedding (First official wedding with all our family and friends).But now it seems like he is very serious and has actually found an Elvis and a little white chapel for us. At first I was very against it. This is seriously way beyond anything. I don't need to get married four times! Once is enough. I only want one wedding, one memorable one and we already had it last January 4. It's starting to make everything look like a joke. It's making everything look very trivial, you know, this whole getting married in 7 churches thing. 


        But then again, we only get to live once. And I seriously told myself that I have to live a little more this year. Stop being too shy, quiet, timid and overly apologetic. I need to do new things, try exciting stuff and be more outgoing. Push the envelope a little. It's about time I do things to make life a little more fun. So I thought, Why not?! Besides, our family and closest friends want to dress really "baduy" and dude, I'm all for it! *raises a glass* For crazy good memories!

  

         So now I'm thinking of what to wear, it's 3 weeks away and doing that whole "Jem is my name" thing is going to require a lot of effort, time and creativity. I'm thinking of cutting off some bangs, dying my hair black and adding some fake pink and purple highlights. Get those bright neon eye shadows, super skinny jeans, bright pumps and gloves. This is crazy I can't wait. I will try to look at some of my mom's photos in the 90's when they had this infamous hairspray-ed bangs and shaggy hair. I love it. 

           Hmm...I wonder what Paulo and the boys are going to wear. Haha. they better think of something really good. Rockstar good.

        

Our Wedding. The Flowers and Gowns.

Wind on my veil. 

Paulo and I got married last January 4, 2011. I must say I am very lucky to be married to such a nice, respectful, understanding, loving and romantic guy. He is such a good husband I am so blessed to be his wife. Ok, I should stop. He might think he is superman. Just kidding.

Planning a wedding is more serious than I thought. It could take so much of your time and energy. Throughout the whole process of planning the big day, there were times I was excited, happy, giddy, disappointed, stressed and also overly emotional. I am very lucky Paulo was very patient the whole time. But of course, even if it can cause a lot of stress and pressure, nothing can brighten up your spirit like listening to your marching song and imagining all the fun you're about to have with all the people who matter to you and your future husband. I am so grateful and lucky that the most important people in my life were there to celebrate it with us. I swear, no gift can equal the presence of family and friends on your wedding day.

I've been collecting ideas, pictures and contacts from the moment we got engaged last August 15, 2007. (oh my, has it been 4 years since?) Over the years and months, I have put together tons and tons of inspiration from wedding videos, songs, photos and magazine cut outs and thank God I was able to keep all of them and put them in a binder specifically for the wedding. I was likewise required to make a mood board for my wedding gown and the dresses of my entourage members and I am so glad that I did because all my ideas merged into this melting pot of things i love and I was able to determine the type of wedding I wanted: Romantic. Lots of lace, tulle, chiffon, crystals and beads. Champagne damask, white roses, orchids and peonies.

My beautiful Headpiece.

Since our theme was classic romantic, I had Ms. Joyce Aguilar of 2171 Floral Creations create a very romantic table setting and I must say she didn't fail to amaze me and the guests with her lovely arrangement of white roses, calla lilies, orchids, snapdragons, flowers that looked very similar to hydrangeas, carnation (i think) and loads of other beautiful white blooms I wasn't fortunate enough to know the names of. The tables were so full and beautiful. She really did a very very good job. It was very elegant. Thank you Ms. Joyce!

Pat Dy's trademark photo. 
FYI, the bouquet wasn't photoshopped.

The bridal and entourage gowns were designed by Patrice Ramos-Diaz. My favorite designer in the world. She is so nice and very passionate about her work. I would love to have another gown made by her. Actually, I've been cutting pictures of her gowns since I was in High School! I was a fangirl. Super fan. So it was definitely a dream come true for me that I was able to book her to design my wedding gown and the girls' dresses. She sent me 9 design studies earlier in the year and I promise myself that if I had the money I would order each and every dress. They were all to die for. 


My gown was made mostly of soft tulle, french lace, beads, elegant appliqués and some crystals. All I can say is that it was perfect for me. She designed THE PERFECT gown for me. There is no other gown I would want more than what she designed for my wedding. I am very very lucky. She really was able to incorporate everything I wanted and loved on my wedding dress. When my future daughters get married I am positive (and realistic when I say this) at least one of them will want to wear it again for their wedding. 

The gowns of my girls were also just as beautiful. I wanted them to have different colors and Patrice did a very fantastic job of choosing these feminine and sophisticated colors for them: Old rose, lilac, blush, bluish silver, pink, lavender and each had a unique design and beadwork which I will be forever drooling over. I love love love their gowns and I am so happy that they loved theirs too. Theirs had some amber crystals, antique appliques and some chiffon and tulle. Love. Love. Love.

My precious flower girl Reign 
and my dashing debonair of a husband. 

The flower girl dresses were another thing. I had bought these adorable Crewcut headbands  that were on sale at J.Crew. They had these huge flowers on them made out of different kinds and layers and layers fabric. Forgive the description. Not so good at describing things I'm not so sure about.  I wasn't very familiar with the fabric but they were just so cute and lovely. So since I didn't have a design/theme in mind for the flower girls yet, I asked Patrice if she could draw inspiration from the headpieces and to my delight she was able to make these cute champagne dresses for my little girls. So thankful and blessed to have such a wonderful designer and team to work on all the details of the dresses. Kudos to Patrice and her very talented team. Especially her head assistant Mica who was very sweet and nice to me throughout the whole planning process and production. Thank you Mica!

One of my favorite photos. 
Can't describe how seeing this photo makes me so happy.

I wish I had more pictures to share. I swear I would love to blog more about the whole wedding prep and design process which I was glad and lucky enough to witness from my amazing suppliers. They did a very splendid job of putting my ideas to life. But my apologies for this entry being too long. I will post more about the wedding soon. But for now, I hope these teaser photos from Pat Dy (who is, by the way, one of the best wedding photographers EVER!) will be enough for now. 

Love.

If only my words could give justice to all the beautiful things that happened that day. I thank the Lord everyday for such a wonderful, beautiful and most importantly, solemn wedding. I love you Paulo!

  

A Fresh Start.

After much much thought I've finally decided to have another try at blogging. I truly missed doing this. It's been 5 years since my last blog and I feel it's about time I did something for me. Start a whole new love affair with writing again. I wonder how far this blog is going to take me. My first blog lasted almost 3 years and I hope I could maintain this way longer than that. Wish me luck. I really want to do this and see it unfold into something productive. 


So to writing and a more productive and beautiful new year! 


ps.
I spent the whole evening figuring this template out and I'm glad it's done.Now I have to go boil some vegetables for dinner. Ciao!